Jefferson Parish recycling has banner first week

Officials say about half of the households in unincorporated East Jefferson participated in the first week of curbside garbage recycling, a significant increase for a service they last had before Hurricane Katrina.

Director Marnie Winter of the Department of Environmental Affairs tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/MUJnkD) the overall rate of households putting out the new green bins Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was 51 percent.

Before Katrina, Winter says an average of about 32 percent of homes participated in curbside recycling.

Officials say more than 126 tons of recyclables were collected last week.